The 2017 Gamba Osaka season was Gamba Osaka's 24th season in the J1 League and 30th overall in the Japanese top flight. It saw them compete in the 18 team J1 League which had reverted to a single stage format of 34 games where each team played the other 17 participants home and away after an unsuccessful trial of a first stage and second stage being followed by a championship playoff series. City rivals, Cerezo Osaka were promoted from J2 at the end of 2016 meaning that the two sides played derby matches for the first time since 2014 and with neighbouring Vissel Kobe also participating in J1, Gamba had 4 league derbies to look forward to throughout the season.
Gamba also competed in the 2017 J.League Cup and Emperors Cup with the timing of their entry into both competitions being determined by their progress in the Champions League. As the 4th placed side in the 2016 J1 League, Gamba entered at the play off round where they faced Malaysia's Johor Darul Ta'zim in a one-off match at Suita City Football Stadium on 7 February. Goals from Ademilson, Shun Nagasawa and Genta Miura secured a comfortable 3-0 victory and saw Gamba progress to the group stages where they were drawn in Group H along with Australian's Adelaide United, Korean side Jeju United and Chinese outfit Jiangsu Suning. Unfortunately for the second season running they were eliminated at the group stage after taking a mere 4 points from their 6-round robin games.
Gamba's results in other competitions were equally disappointing. A bright start in J1 saw them top the standing after round 12, however just 4 wins in their remaining matches led them to a 10th-place finish which saw long serving manager Kenta Hasegawa removed from his position at the end of the season.
Gamba ended the season trophy-less following a defeat to city rivals Cerezo in the semi-finals of the J.League Cup and a 3-2 home loss against Kashiwa Reysol in the 4th round of the Emperor's Cup.
Transfers
Prior to the commencement on the 2017 season, Gamba announced a raft of transfer dealings. Headlining the arrivals were, attacking midfielder, Jin Izumisawa, who had played a key role in Omiya Ardija's 5th-place finish in J1 the previous year where he linked well with ex-Gamba favourite Akihiro Ienaga as well as Brazilian centre-back Fabio who took the well trodden path to Osaka from Yokohama F. Marinos to provide competition for the established centre-half pairing of Daiki Niwa and Kim Jung-ya. In addition Ryota Suzuki, who had been on loan at J2 League side, Tokyo Verdy, from his parent club Yokohama F. Marinos in 2016 came in to compete with Yosuke Fujigawa and Ken Tajiri to be backup to first choice goalkeeper, Masaaki Higashiguchi. Young defender Genta Miura from newly promoted J1 side Shimizu S-Pulse and midfielder Haruya Ide from JEF United Chiba rounded off the signings who would immediately join up with the first team squad.
Young talent in the form of midfielders; Shogo Nakahara from Consadole Sapporo and Yuto Mori from Nagoya Grampus as well as striker Hiromu Kori from J3 outfit Grulla Morioka all arrived but would initially link up with Gamba Osaka U-23 ahead of their second season of J3 football while midfielders Reo Takae, Takahiro Koh and South Korean defender Bae Soo-yong all joined the club straight from high school and would join Nakahara, Mori and Kori in the under-23 side. Ryotaro Meshino, who played 13 times for Gamba Under-23 in 2016 was officially promoted to the senior squad for 2017 although he would begin the year once more with the under-23s.
There were several big name departures as Gamba head-coach Kenta Hasegawa went about reducing the average age of the squad ahead of the 2017 season. Probably the biggest surprise was right-sided midfielder Hiroyuki Abe's move to J1 rivals Kawasaki Frontale, having been a key member of the side since his arrival in 2012, scoring 7 times in 30 games during Gamba's J1 title winning season of 2014. Fellow attacking midfielder and Gamba youth product, Kotaro Omori, made the short trip west to join Vissel Kobe while experienced centre-half Keisuke Iwashita, who had been plagued with injuries and subsequently lost his place to Kim Jung-ya during the previous campaign joined Avispa Fukuoka who had been relegated from J1 at the end of 2016.
Striker Shingo Akamine, who had spent the 2016 season on loan to J2 side Fagiano Okayama, made his move there permanent. Veteran midfielder Takahiro Futagawa, who had been on loan at Tokyo Verdy for the second half of 2016, extended his loan for another 12 months. Joining him in Tokyo would be Tatsuya Uchida, who also joined Verdy on a year's loan, while another Gamba youth product, Takaharu Nishino, joined JEF United on loan for the season, attempting to rebuild his career which had been hampered by injuries.
Rounding off the pre-season departures, it was no surprise to see midfielders Kenya Okazaki and Shohei Ogura head through the exit door, both were experienced pros who'd spent the bulk of the previous year playing J3 football with Gamba's Under-23 side and were moved on to make way for younger talent. Okazaki made the move to J2 outfit Tochigi SC while Ogura signed for J1's Ventforet Kofu. Finally, young attacking midfielder, Naoki Ogawa, a squad member since 2014 without managing a single league appearance wasn't named in the 2017 squad and his future in the game is still to be announced.
Kashima Antlers forward Shuhei Akasaki joined the squad on a season-long loan 3 weeks into the new campaign and was assigned the number 53 shirt. He debuted as a second-half substitute in the match against the Urawa Red Diamonds on March 19. On the final day of the winter transfer window, Brazilian striker Patric who had been undergoing rehabilitation on his injured knee in his homeland was re-registered ahead of an anticipated return to fitness in June, however, after an appearance for Gamba U-23 in late May, the club announced that his contracted would not be renewed when it expired on June 30.
In
PlayerTransferred FromFeeDateSource 34 Takahiro Ko Funabashi High SchoolUnknown1 Sept 2016 42 Bae Soo-yong Boin High SchoolLoan1 Sept 2016 44 Leo Takae Higashi Fukuoka High SchoolUnknown15 Sept 2016 40 Ryotaro Meshino Gamba Osaka YouthPromotion21 Sept 2016 24 Haruya Ide JEF UnitedUnknown27 Dec 2016 29 Hiromu Kori Grulla MoriokaLoan27 Dec 2016 39 Jin Izumisawa Omiya ArdijaUnknown5 Jan 2017 3 Fábio Yokohama F. MarinosUnknown6 Jan 2017 2 Genta Miura Shimizu S-PulseUnknown6 Jan 2017 27 Yuto Mori Nagoya GrampusUnknown6 Jan 2017 23 Shogo Nakahara Consadole SapporoLoan6 Jan 2017 19 Ryota Suzuki Tokyo VerdyUnknown6 Jan 2017 53 Shuhei Akasaki Kashima AntlersLoan11 Mar 2017 55 Patric N/ARe-registered31 Mar 2017 11 Hwang Ui-jo Seongnam FCUnknown20 Jun 2017 55 Takaharu Nishino JEF UnitedLoan Return29 Jun 2017
Out
PlayerTransferred ToFeeDateSource 3 Takaharu Nishino JEF UnitedLoan27 Dec 2016 8 Keisuke Iwashita Avispa FukuokaUnknown27 Dec 2016 10 Takahiro Futagawa Tokyo VerdyLoan Extension27 Dec 2016 19 Kotaro Omori Vissel KobeUnknown27 Dec 2016 27 Tatsuya Uchida Tokyo VerdyLoan27 Dec 2016 Shingo Akamine Fagiano OkayamaUnknown27 Dec 2016 13 Hiroyuki Abe Kawasaki FrontaleUnknown4 Jan 2017 17 Kenya Okazaki Tochigi SCUnknown6 Jan 2017 40 Shōhei Ogura Ventforet KofuFree12 Jan 2017 24 Naoki Ogawa releasedN/A15 Jan 2017 16 Ken Tajiri Zweigen Kanazawaloan4 Jun 2017 38 Ritsu Doan FC Groningenloan23 Jun 2017 5 Daiki Niwa Sanfrecce HiroshimaUnknown27 Jun 2017 55 Patric Sanfrecce HiroshimaUnknown27 Jun 2017
Coaching staff
PositionStaffFirst-team manager Kenta HasegawaHead coach Ichiro WadaPhysical Coach Koichiro YoshimichiTechnical coach Taku OshimaGoalkeeper coach Shinichi MorishitaAssistant coach Arata Kodama
First-team squad Appearances and goals as of the beginning of the 2017 season. No. Name Nationality Position(s) Date of birth (age) Height (cm) Weight (kg) Since Previous club Games played Goals scored Goalkeepers 1 GK 184 78 2014 146 0 18 Yōsuke Fujigaya GK 185 78 2015 Júbilo Iwata 350 0 19 Ryota Suzuki GK 191 85 2017 Tokyo Verdy 0 0 31 Mizuki Hayashi GK 182 74 2015 Gamba Osaka Youth 0 0 Defenders 2 Genta Miura CB / RB 183 77 2017 Shimizu S-Pulse 0 0 3 Fábio CB 186 78 2017 Yokohama F. Marinos 0 0 4 Hiroki Fujiharu LB 175 60 2011 234 10 6 Kim Jung-ya / CB 183 74 2014 Sagan Tosu* 97 3 14 Koki Yonekura RB 176 68 2014 JEF United 114 8 22 Oh Jae-suk RB / LB 178 74 2013 Gangwon FC 89 0 30 So Hirao RB / CF 170 68 2015 Gamba Osaka Youth 2 0 32 Hiroki Noda CB 181 73 2016 Otsu High School 0 0 35 Ryo Hatsuse RB / LB 175 64 2015 Gamba Osaka Youth 8 0 42 Bae Soo-yong CB 188 78 2017 Boin High School 0 0 55 Takaharu Nishino CB 187 73 2017 JEF United* 69 6 Midfielders 7 Yasuhito Endō (captain) CM / AM 178 75 2001 Kyoto Purple Sanga 659 122 8 Yosuke Ideguchi CM 171 69 2014 Gamba Osaka Youth 56 4 10 Shu Kurata 172 68 2012 Cerezo Osaka* 251 38 15 Yasuyuki Konno CB / DM 178 73 2012 FC Tokyo 218 20 23 Shogo Nakahara CB / CM / LW 177 68 2017 Consadole Sapporo 0 0 24 Haruya Ide RB / AM / RW 171 66 2017 JEF United 0 0 25 Jungo Fujimoto RW / LW / AM 173 69 2016 Yokohama F. Marinos 24 0 26 Naoya Senoo LB / LM 172 60 2015 Gamba Osaka Youth 1 0 27 Yuto Mori CM / AM 173 68 2017 Nagoya Grampus 0 0 28 Shota Yomesaka CB / LB / RM 177 67 2014 Gamba Osaka Youth 0 0 34 Takahiro Ko CM 172 67 2017 Funabashi High School 0 0 36 Mizuki Ichimaru CM / RM 174 66 2016 Gamba Osaka Youth 0 0 39 Jin Izumisawa 165 63 2017 Omiya Ardija 0 0 40 Ryotaro Meshino MF 171 68 2017 Gamba Osaka Youth 0 0 44 Reo Takae LW 171 60 2017 0 0 Strikers9 Ademilson AM / CF 176 74 2016 São Paulo 40 1311 Hwang Ui-jo CF 184 73 2017 Seongnam FC 0 0 13 Hiroto Goya CF 177 68 2016 20 2 20 Shun Nagasawa CF 192 82 2015 Shimizu S-Pulse 43 17 29 Hiromu Kori CF 184 77 2017 Grulla Morioka 0 0 33 Kazunari Ichimi CF 183 74 2016 Otsu High School 0 0 37 Akito Takagi CF 175 68 2016 Gamba Osaka Youth 1 0 53 Shuhei Akasaki CF 174 70 2017 Kashima Antlers (loan) 0 0 * indicates player returned to Gamba Osaka from a loan spell with this club.
J1 League
The league returned to a single stage format for 2017 with 34 rounds played between March and November 2017. On 12 January, Gamba's first 2 fixtures for the season were announced, at home to Ventforet Kofu and away to Kashiwa Reysol. The dates for the remaining games were made public on January 25.